Suresh Raina hits 59-ball 126 in Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, joins Virat Kohli in 7000 T20 club

Suresh Raina of Uttar Pradesh, who hit an unbeaten 126 against Bengal in the Super League stage of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, became the second Indian to score 7,000 runs in Twenty20 matches after Indian cricket team skipper Virat Kohli.

Suresh Raina on Monday became only the second Indian cricketer and ninth overall batsman to have completed 7,000 runs in overall Twenty20 cricket.

Suresh Raina became the second Indian cricketer to score 7,000 runs in Twenty20 matches after Virat Kohli. (PTI)

Virat Kohli (7,068 runs in 226 matches) is the first Indian cricketer to have breached the mark, with West Indies’ Chris Gayle being the only cricketer in the world to have scored more than 10,000 runs in the format.

Gayle, for that matter, has a little over 11,000 runs in a format wherein the second best is Brendon McCullum with 8,769 runs.

Uttar Pradesh’s Raina achieved the feat during his stunning knock of 126 not out off a mere 59 balls against Bengal in the Super League stage of the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 Trophy, played on Monday afternoon at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

Raina’s 126 is the second highest score by an Indian in T20s -- M Vijay holds the record with 127 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly was in attendance when Raina hammered his fourth century in the slam-bang format of cricket — a knock that should helped him bounce back after a poor run in the domestic circuit.

But on Monday the left-handed batsman roared back into the format he perhaps likes playing the most, smacking as many as 13 fours and seven sixes to score 126 not out, which is his highest score in the T20 format.

Raina’s innings helped Uttar Pradesh post a daunting 235 for three in their allotted 20 overs.

Raina has so far played 265 T20 games (overall, including IPL) in which he now has 7,053 runs at 33.58 with four centuries and as many as 40 half-centuries.